A. Field of the Invention
The apparatus of the invention is a tool for use in the kitchen. The apparatus of the invention is also a kit of parts for preparing a foodstuff. The method of the invention is a method of preparing a foodstuff using the apparatus of the invention. The tool, kit and method are useful for preparing gnocchi or gnocchetti, which are traditional staples of Italian cuisine.
B. Statement of the Related Art
Gnocchi are thick, soft dumplings. The dumplings may include wheat flour or may be gluten-free. The gnocchi may include eggs, cheese, potato, breadcrumbs or similar ingredients. A small gnocchi is known as a gnocchetti.
To make gnocchi from scratch, a cook will mix flour with water and other ingredients to form dough. The cook then will use any of various techniques to form the dough into many small balls. Because the gnocchi will be served with a sauce such as a tomato sauce, pesto or melted butter, the cook will apply texture to the gnocchi to provide an irregular surface to retain the sauce.
One traditional technique to applying texture to the balls of dough is to roll the ball using the underside of an ordinary dinner fork. The cook presses the flat underside of the tines of the fork into the dough ball while moving the fork in a longitudinal direction. The moving fork causes the ball of dough to roll. The moving tines create grooves in the rolling dough. When the cook reaches the end of the fork, the ends of the tines provide distinctive indentations to the dough. Other techniques may be used to texture the balls of dough, such as creating an indentation with the cook's finger or thumb. The textured balls of dough can be cooked immediately or can be preserved for later use by freezing or drying.
The cook places the textured balls of dough in boiling water to cook the gnocchi. As noted above, the cooked gnocchi are served with a sauce. The grooves and indentations retain the sauce, improving the dining experience.
For gnocchi that include wheat flour, the selected flour may be ordinary wheat flour or may be semolina, which is the flour used to create wheat-based pasta.
Wheat-based flours contain gluten. In sensitive persons, gluten can cause celiac disease, dermatitis herpetiformis and wheat allergy. Persons on a gluten-free diet must avoid gluten in all of its forms. A cook may prepare gnocchi while avoiding use of gluten-containing flours, flavoring agents, stabilizing agents or thickening agents by utilizing corn, rice, potato, tapioca or other gluten-free ingredients.